During FY 2003, OCR continued to monitor the implementation of its higher education
agreements with six states. Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Maryland and
Virginia were among nineteen states that previously operated racially segregated
higher education systems. In United States v. Fordice, the U.S. Supreme
Court set out standards for determining whether such states have met their affirmative
duty to dismantle those systems and their vestiges under the Fourteenth Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution and Title VI.

In Virginia, several new academic programs were staffed and are now operational
at Virginia State University and Norfolk State, the state’s historically
black institutions. Also, funds were designated for the improvement of their facilities.
Pennsylvania, Texas and Maryland also made progress in the enhancement of the
facilities of their historically black institutions. For example, Prairie View
A&M and Texas Southern received $25 million in state line item appropriations,
which were used for constructing new facilities, improving technology, and adding
high demand academic programs, including graduate programs in Electrical Engineering
and Urban Planning and Environmental Policy. Another accomplishment was the accreditation
of Texas Southern University’s teacher preparation programs.